Fresh Film Fest FestivalpresseGERMANATTACK
German films are rolling through Europe. Features as well as student films. The large package that was sent to this year’s Fresh Film Fest from German schools proves that our neighbour’s young film hopes definitely won’t fly out of the window. From the collection of short-footage films, three German movies got through the pre-selection rounds, which puts German on the top spot in the main competition as far as the number of participating films is concerned. (…)
Another German representative in the main competition is a film called Wüste/Außen/Tag directed by Mia Grau. By the way, there are a lot of young female directors in the program of this year’s Fresh Film Fest. A black and white film, cinemascope, a film about the film’s making. Right the first few shots reassure the spectators that they are watching A FILM and not some sweaty TV exercise. According to her own words, the director and screenwriter of the film was mostly interested in the collision between the two leading characters and their performers in the shooted film. The delicately shooted oscillation between intimacy and aloofness, a kind of self-isolation, when they are quite unsuccessfully trying to find a way to each other shows great talent. (…)www.freshfilmfest-german-attack.net

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival FestivalpresseFRESHSELECTION – THEPROMISINGFIVE
As film critic and author James Monaco put it, where art is concerned, it’s not so much what you do, but more a matter of attitude. For six years now, students from films schools all over the world have been applying to have their films included in competition at the international student film festival Fresh Film Fest. We get hundreds of entries, some of them average, some below average, but also others which are outstanding and exceptional. And Monaco’s definition incorporates one of the basic criteria for the films selected for the Fresh Film Fest programme, held this year in Karlovy Vary once again, from 12 to 16 August. Attitudes are essentially formed from the filmmakers’ perception of values and indicate their sentiments towards a given theme. This said, the discerning viewer will recognise talent in a director, and the kind of potential which gives rise to remarkable original films. Mia Grau, director of the German film Desert/Exterior/Day (Wüste/Aussen/Tag), has chosen an environment which filmmakers have treated on many occasions – the film set. She uncovers the actors’ futile efforts to find common ground away from the camera and, conversely, the ease with which they succumb to self-delusion. This she does with a sense of stringent dialogue which, however, testifies all the more to the director’s specific aims. (…)
by Jan Stehlík – Artistic Director FFFwww.the-fresh-selection-the-promising-five.net